This Monday marks 12 years since the final episode of David Milch’s masterful Western series Deadwood hit HBO. The series ended abruptly, frustrating fans who have spent all the years in between begging Milch, HBO, and the entirety of the cast for a revival. Finally, last month HBO greenlit a movie that would bring back Seth Bullock and Al Swearengen, and could perhaps bring closure to three action-packed, drama-rich, curse-drenched seasons. And now, W. Earl Brown, who famously played Swearengen’s muscle Dan Dority, has shared his reaction to Milch’s script.

I just read the final draft.

Holy.

Shit.

In the course of those two hours, my emotions ricocheted in every fucking direction: exhilaration to melancholy; hoots of joy to screams of despair. The Maestro has topped himself.

The structure is essentially the same as the first version I read a year and a half ago, but the complexities of the relationships, the emotional peaks and depths, are all sharpened to a razor fine edge. It’s gut wrenching.